Читать книгу Springwatch Unsprung: Why Do Robins Have Red Breasts? - Jo Stevens - Страница 15

Just a quickie, why do dogs love to roll around in fox poo? What is the attraction? Jackie

Members of the canine family, such as wolves, dogs and foxes, have a very acute sense of smell. Humans are primarily visual creatures while a canine’s world is ruled by scent. Dogs and their wild relatives can pick out the faintest scents using their wet noses and millions of olfactory receptors. A large proportion of a dog’s brain is devoted to processing all this olfactory information and their sense of smell may be several million times more sensitive than ours. In the wild they would use this skill to track down prey or other members of their species, but we humans have exploited the dog’s nose for a wide variety of tasks, from finding truffles and recovering shot game birds to detecting explosives, illegal drugs and missing people.

Scent is vital in fox communication too. Foxes often mark their territory by defecating in conspicuous places, such as on top of molehills, at the junction of paths or on tussocks of grass. It’s thought that a fox’s faeces provides clues to the animal’s sex, fertility, health and status. Both fox urine and faeces have a distinctive, musky smell that even our weak human noses can easily detect!

Why then, if dogs have such a sensitive nose, would they choose to roll in something as stinky as fox poo? It’s thought to be a relic of their wolf ancestors and may have several purposes. Wolves roll in something pungent like a rotting carcass or another species’ droppings as a form of olfactory camouflage. They first rub their cheek against the object then slide against it, covering themselves in a foreign scent. This may disguise the wolf’s own smell so that it isn’t detected by prey when attempting to hunt. Scent rolling may also enable a wolf to bring back any novel scent it finds and share it with the rest of the pack. When the wolf returns it is sniffed and licked by other wolves that then pick up the scent. Another theory is that certain scents may act like perfume or aftershave and make the wolf more attractive to others.

Regardless of the motive, dogs that have rolled in fox poo certainly aren’t more attractive to humans! Not only is the smell offensive, it’s also unhygienic. Fox droppings may carry diseases and parasites like tapeworms and roundworms, so it goes without saying that if you wash the fox poo off your dog make sure you wash your hands very thoroughly afterwards.